Meetings Notes from Feb 2nd  

Hello All,

Heads up...this is a long read because the meeting went @15 minutes longer than usual and a lot was covered.

Following are the minutes from the 02 Feb meeting:

TIME START: 2:01                  President, Treasurer and Secretary present                    20 members present

- 3 checks were written since last month: $100.00 to Kevin for raffle prize reimbursement; $75.00 to Trevor Dysland for Alber Lea train show gas reimbursement; $100.00 donation to Pioneer Village.

- 2 deposits were made since last month: $255.00; $35.00 for dues.

- Checking account balance as of Feb. meeting date: $4,675.82.

- $100.00 donation to Pioneer Village.

- Arlyn sent Kevin a list of other suggested parties to whom the club could donate to.

- The Albert Lea show was reviewed briefly. A general recap of the show was positive.

- Where to have the Jan. meeting and Christmas dinner was discussed. Crossroads Cafe was chosen w/Dennys as a backup. (Crossroads Cafe is also where the club and vendors will meet after this year's show....no time established yet.)

- Invites to vendors for the show were sent out.

- Smaller raffle prizes to offer were still being looked for. Again, these need not be new but must be in good condition. 

- Dan Paulson is doing a fine job maintaining the club's website. Articles, pictures of layouts, train show visits, etc. for the website are appreciated by Dan and can be emailed to him at daniel492@wwt.net

Thanks, Dan, for maintaining the website. The site is a quiet "member" working for the club in the unseen background.

- The last topic under old business leads into new business by rehashing an old topic again and defining and establishing a guideline for club members who may wish to send Dan photos to be posted on the club's website, as well as a personal Facebook page. For reasons that do not need to be articulated to anyone, there are club members who do not wish to have their image posted on the internet. Everybody is different. Out of respect for and as a common courtesy, permission must be granted before any image of an individual can be put online. Kevin will put together a folder to be maintained by either he or I with a running list of members who would decline to have images of themselves posted.

- Kevin received an email from the radio group - 95 GMO, King Country, The Cabin 104.9 - regarding advertising the train show on air. The cost this year is the same as last year - $180.00 - but they generously agreed to double the airtime for the same price. Moose Country was reached out to for advertising, but they never responded back.

- Regarding advertising: Ads will be (are) in the Yellow Paper. No bill has been received to date...last year's bill was $417.75, and this year's is expected to be $425.00 - $450.00, projecting @$500.00 for next year. Hudson was targeted as a new region this year. The cost for advertising in that area is $76.50. That was not budgeted for this year, yet they offered to run an ad for free. Bottom line: radio and printed advertising has been covered.

- - A somewhat lively discussion about the last-minute option of advertising/interviewing on WCCO and WEAU TV/Eau Claire during this final week prior to the show, but this multi-facetted conversation bounced around too much to take comprehensive notes. 

- It was agreed at the Jan. meeting to bypass advertising in the Ladysmith area as there has not been much draw from that area.

- Tracking where guests come from (for targeting areas to advertise) is a challenge and the club is open to ideas. 

- Train show table set-up will start at 12:00 on Friday the 7th, meeting near the center mall entrance/fountain area. All who are able are encouraged to lend a hand. The same applies for Monday the 10th at 10:00, meeting again to load and return the rented tables. A flatbed trailer would help a lot, so if anybody has one to offer, it would be appreciated.

- There will be 44) 6' tables and 33) 8' tables.

- 12 vendors and 13 layouts are scheduled for attendance.

- JOHN TESKEY update: A long-time train show guest at many shows around the upper mid-west, he is having some problems with his hips and it is difficult for him to get around. He is still scheduled to be at the show this year and will appreciate helping hands to set up his wares. He is looking at upcoming hip surgery this month.

- Please be sensitive to our vendors (our invited guests) with regards to their own setup. Again, everybody is different.  While one's heart may be in the right place and the intention is only to help them set up, they are just like you and me in that they have their way of doing things which works for them personally. We are there to offer a hand if wanted and follow their directions.

- It was brought up that the club has no literature to set out during the show (to possibly generate ((youthful)) interest), so it was suggested that if anybody has old train magazines or RR related literature to please bring them to set out for free around the mall area.

- A system for the raffle drawing and prize giveaway was discussed. Email ideas to Kevin. It looks like this year the club will try putting a number on each prize offered with a container and corresponding number for raffle tickets to be placed in so guests (especially children) hoping to win a certain prize will have a better chance of winning that which prompted them to buy a ticket in the first place.

- It was brought up by Kevin to hold back a raffle prize for the very end to simply give away to a child who had sat through the whole raffle process holding out hope to have his/her name called. BRAVO and HAT'S OFF for that gesture!

- 3D Printing: Steven brought in some excellent examples of products he has made recently, i.e. HO scale people figures, passenger car seating interiors, add-on custom passenger car vents and water tanks, parts for some of Ethan's diesel engines were made by request also. (And 6 cows and 6 sheep that were present in spirit only because they did not survive the creation process due to a glitch in the program. It was a slaughter, and they wound up being nothing but a greasy spot in the bottom of the resin tray. R.I.P.) All of the surviving products are indicative of the possibilities for this additive manufacturing technology limited only by one's imagination and size/type of machine used.

- The logistics of the club possibly purchasing a 3D printer in the future is an ongoing topic of discussion. One idea that came up in a private discussion stemmed from concerns of damaging the printer in repeated transport if it were to be moved about from member to member. The idea is to consider purchasing a dedicated enclosed trailer to be parked and remain stationary at a centrally located member's property. Requirements would be minimal: access to electricity for the machine itself, obviously, but also, importantly, for ventilation. A pre-arrangement for compensating the property owner for the electricity goes without saying, of course. (Just sayin'.) This idea graduated to: instead of an enclosed utility trailer, maybe an older, economical, still somewhat serviceable, watertight camper trailer with a couple of creature comforts like a cushioned seat and counter-turned-workbench, a small non-working fridge-turned-storage cabinet for supplies, crank out windows and roof vents to help facilitate ventilation, plus other riffraff. Again...the possibilities are limited only by one's imagination.

MEETING ADJOURNED: 2:45

See everybody at the show, if not the Friday before for set-up. That's a wrap.

Marty